Play Balance of Power Online

Balance of Power, released in 1985 as part of the MS-DOS Classic Games series and designed by Chris Crawford, was a stark departure from the typical shooters and adventures of its time. It didn't offer fantasy escapism; instead, it plunged you directly into the cold, hard reality of the late Cold War, using your computer not as a portal to another world but as a sobering simulation of global brinkmanship.

You take control of either the United States or the Soviet Union, managing geopolitical influence through a simple map interface and a series of text-based diplomatic choices. Your main objective is to achieve global dominance by the decade's end without triggering a nuclear war, a failure state reached through excessive military action or a critical loss of prestige. The core mechanics involve making careful decisions about where to exert political pressure, responding to the actions of your AI opponent, and constantly monitoring a world tension meter that ticks upward with every provocation. The pacing is deliberately slow and methodical, demanding patience and foresight over quick reflexes, and the difficulty stems from the immense weight of every choice, where even a minor intervention in a region like Central America can have unforeseen, catastrophic consequences. It feels less like playing a game and more like nervously holding the world's fate in your hands, one calculated risk at a time.

Each game uses different controls, most DOS games use the keyboard arrows. Some will use the mouse , "Alt" ,"Enter" and "Space bar".